Phantom Lover
by Cpt. Kallan Beyda
Summary: They're members of G-force, the galaxies most élite fighting squad. Five young people spending their days defeating Spectra's deadliest machines sent to destroy Earth. But in the depths of night, they lay alone and lonely in a cold bed. Raging hormones unable to be spent – or are they? In the darkest, most tumultuous parts of the night, enters a Phantom Lover. Rewritten.
1. Tempest

Princess hated stormy nights with a passion rarely felt. Well, until a year ago she felt indifferent about them. Then she'd experienced something ephemeral, unearthly and most definitely enjoyable. Enjoyable didn't begin to describe the sensations developing since then. Still stormy nights like this and the passion filling them reminded her of the life she didn't have. Passing in a flash, the morning always left her depressed and desiring the things she wanted, needed to feel complete.

Sighing with frustration and looking back, it started a year ago, on a night very much like this. Thunder rolled across the darkening sky, followed by his brother lightening. The flash of illumination sent her mind back, remembering her ordeal. Using the bioengineered second skin, she'd gone out looking for trouble. It didn't take long to find her. Three days missing, assumed dead, Princess endured the recriminations within her own mind. The first few hours, trapped in that flower, unable to move or contact any of her teammates for help, Princess finally considered all the things she'd never had time to do.

The list, longer than she'd imagined had intimacy at the top. Oh, she had affections for her male teammates, but a love affair between them would never work. Just as a love affair with a civilian could not succeed because she had neither the time nor inclination to initiate one. Trapped between a rock and a hard place, she'd remained a untried, untested and unbroken in the sexual area.

The night she'd been rescued, not by her teammates but Spectran goons, she'd been too busy trying to survive torture and death at their hands. Laying safe in her bed at the conclusion of the mission, the wants and needs poured from her subconscious demanding she do something to satisfy them. The reality of imminent death brought home by her ordeal, Princess's mind made up for the lack of male attention. Outside, a sudden and violent storm whipped up into a frenzied vortex of elemental destruction. Inside her bedroom, her mind did the same. Allowing her imagination free reign, she finally allowed her passion freedom to explore her sexuality. Somehow, as the storm passed, she knew what it was to make love to a man.

Tonight, curled into a tight ball, terrified by her desires as the tempest raged outside her bedroom, she considered what it would be like to make love to a real man. So far Princess's mind supplied a figment, a phantom lover she desired, one who desired her in return. A composite of the three strong males she called brothers, she began to imagine taking this miracle man to her bed in reality. It always started her fantasy on a night like this when she could no longer bear her solitude and loneliness.

In the last year, the acts she demanded of her body grew. Actively exploring her own needs, she pushed the envelope with each experience. Now she took it out, dusted of the last encounter and began to play as the tempest hit. Tonight, it was a dark stormy night and she had every intention of enjoying her Phantom Lover.


	2. Storm

It was a dark and stormy night as he lay in his bed. Outside the window, drops of rain the size of peas hit the glass in a torrent making a soft drumming sound. Lightening split the sky in two and illuminated the world in a strange glow. All too soon the menacing rumble of thunder rolled across the sky, attempting to outdo its electrical brother. For a minute, maybe two, only the sound of the pelting rain could be heard. Then the gods of light and sound clashed once again fighting for dominance within the heavens.

He looked forward to nights like this. Outside the storm ruled the sky, inside his tumultuous emotions roiled as he lay alone and lonely in his bed. A bed he rarely shared with another, even if he had the inclination or opportunity. Life just didn't work that way for the commander of a secret military force. He needed to keep his focus. But tonight, he'd allow himself to become lost in pleasure.

Tonight she'd come, his dream lover, his phantom woman. She'd first approached him on a night just like this, almost a year ago. As he felt the mattress dip, then the soft friction of bare skin sliding over his, he'd taken in a sharp breath. Wondering what occurred, it didn't take long for his body, deprived of the feminine form, to realise she came to pleasure him. Now, just the anticipation had him awaiting her feathery touch and wanting the response only she could bring.

Like an apparition, she appeared, not in physical form but ethereal. She never made a sound and he lay perfectly still, naked and waiting with expectation. The first indication of her presence occurred as a slight indentation, a pressure point as she hovered over him. Wisps of hair grazed his face before soft butterfly kisses started at his temple. Eyes, nose, corners of his mouth came next. He dare not attempt to touch her, to actively participate. He'd tried before only to have her vanish into thin air, leaving him wanting in a way he'd ever experienced before.

She neither wanted nor needed his participation in this ritual dance bring them both pleasures beyond compare. Opening his mouth under the gentle exploration, she took the invitation, sweeping her tongue into the offered nirvana. Duelling in a rhythm as old as time, their lips mated, initiating what would follow. Yet she never wanted to rush this first act, instead taking her time to drink in his essential essence. Only once she'd taken her fill did she move on.

That amazing mouth continued to his chin, teeth grazing a nipple along the way. Softness of her cheek resting for a moment on his exposed abdomen as though worshiping him in all his male glory. It made him feel more masculine than he'd ever experienced. The entire time her small, supple hand continued their reverent adoration. They'd found the most exquisite method of removing blood from the rest of his body, to pool in his groin. Touch so tender, strokes so mild as to drive him crazy with want.

She knew the moment he couldn't take it anymore, the moment she's stimulated him to his limit. Then, and only then, she'd move to position herself over his engorged groin. Hand going to his stiff shaft, he hold it, ready while she cloaked him in a warm wetness. Never with haste or a waisted movement, she took her time and pleasure from the slow downward thrust.

Once they'd completed the initial joining, she's trail the very ends of her hair long his chest, seeking and finding his lips. Then like the lightening outside the room, she strike. Hard and fast, her tongue demanded entry, a duel as old as time. That's when she'd begin to move off him, until only the very tip still joined them in this amazing dance. The return stroke, fast and furious, created friction which pleased both of them. They repeated the steps until he couldn't take it anymore. He found the growls of pleasure mounted like the rolling thunder.

She'd become the lightening to his thunder. She'd only come to him on nights like this. When the storm broke, and the moonlight shone through, she'd be gone.


	3. Fire

Fire – it burnt, consumed, feed on everything in its sight. That's how he felt. Relationships for him just didn't work. He managed to sabotage them before they caught. Able to ignite interest, he couldn't make the flame strong or steady enough to burn brightly, to begin to feed and devour.

Fire – easily put out in its infancy with a substance an innocuous as water, his actions had the same effect. Often his nature, taken for casual disinterest doused the flickering spark before he managed to get a girl into his bed. Yet if they just gave him a chance, he'd be able to show them an inferno. Pent up wants and needs, fed by a lack of physical intimacy could be considered a dry, tender forest bed, ready for his unique touch to set it alight.

Fire – once it took hold couldn't be stopped easily. When she came to him, that's how he felt, on fire, consumed, not a part of his body untouched by her heat. At first he'd simply accepted it as a figment of his overactive imagination, revelling in the sensations long denied his body. After all, deprived of a bed mate, his mind invented every erotic situation under the sun. Like fire, she burnt him, leaving charred remains, useless to anyone else. He'd regenerate in time to have her come again, reducing him to ashes once again. Like the Phoenix, he's always rise from the fire, renewed.

He's considered telling the others. Maybe in the slow drawl he'd perfected they consider it a good joke. Yet he didn't want them to laugh at him. Somehow he'd always been the butt of their jokes, even if he deliberately left himself wide open for their teasing.

If it'd been them in the same situation, he'd have laughed. No way would Mark or Jason lack for female companionship. They didn't need their overactive imaginations to invent a phantom lover. Still too young to really understand the needs of a grown man, he didn't consider telling the immature sparrow. Keyop couldn't keep this a secret and this would just be too embarrassing to tell Princess.

So he kept his own counsel until a month ago. Unable to take the pressure of her infrequent visits, he'd gone to the doctors at Centre Neptune. The reaction more serious than he'd imagined the questions got a little too detailed. Sensing he'd soon clam up, they'd put him through every test known to man and made only one suggestion.

'You need to find a girlfriend,' the white coated doctor ordered.

_As if_, he rolled his eyes, _it's that easy. When do we get time?_

Still he'd tried to follow the advice. Attempting to act less like himself, he got as far as chatting up a young lady at the snack J a few nights later. For the first time his hulking shape and gentle demeanour didn't scare the young woman off. Even the others left him alone to close the deal.

Princess winked at his attempt in silent approval as she removed their empty dishes. His team mate meant to encourage his efforts, instead drawing a look of distain from the woman. The one that said you got something going on with the bartender? Embarrassed and shy, he couldn't find the words to explain his relationship to the pretty girl behind the bar. Once again he'd thrown water on the flickering flame, dowsing any opportunity to kindle a raging inferno.

So his attempts to start a fire failed miserably. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, a few days later the storm hit. Anticipation had him on edge the whole evening, waiting, watching, ready for the merest hint of her entering his bedroom. He awaited her to ignite that blaze, combusting the entire area with their ancient rhythmic dance. A furnace of passion, culminating in the best orgasmic experience he'd had to date. Each better than the last, he didn't think they could get much wilder and still survive the experience.

'I wish,' he whispered into the night, the scorched remains of his body aching for the next visit, 'you'd stay. I wish you'd let me touch you, be involved, show you what I'm capable of.'

That long hair, he imagined it to be blond and curly, would end up in his fist. His face, travelling the length of her body, would scorch a trail of fire. He wanted to make her go up in a blaze, returning the favour. Setting between her thighs, he'd prove his tongue capable of more than useless words. Heat mounting, flames ignited, his eyes blazing, he'd adore her as she'd worshiped him on so many occasions.

'It'll never happen,' he sighed, shutting down the memory.


	4. Fog

Fog – it formed suddenly, an upward current of warm air meeting the cold sea. Just as his heated body felt the cooling skin, skin she'd vacated only minutes earlier. She'd always been cool, heating his blood with the movements of her soft fingers and lips over his burning flesh.

Fog – it roiled and rolled across the landscape, obscuring everything in its path. That's how she'd come to him, no light or sound. One moment nothing, the next her heated hand heated his body further. Together they create the perfect atmosphere for condensing droplets of water. Then she'd disappear just as quickly, leaving his world suddenly bereft of her enveloping company.

Fog – it covered the landscape in a dense white mat of elemental water. Pure and yet concealing the world from sight. For those precious moments she enveloped him, covered him, and immersed his being within her sphere of complete and utter dominance. He couldn't do a thing, losing control of his mind and senses. Nothing existed in that moment but her.

'Pure,' he muttered to himself, now at the window. The storm passed several hours earlier leaving the landscape washed clean. Then the fog rolled in while he'd slept. An encounter with is dream lover always gave him three or four hours of uninterrupted sleep. No dreams of spectra, death and destruction. He welcomed the change, the solitude, the hours of peace within the recesses of his mind. He adored her for giving him this when nothing else in his life, not even getting behind the wheel of a car allowed him such a sense of calm.

The doubts, the feeling and emotions started as though his conscious needed something to worry about. Why? Why did she come? Why him? What made him special enough for her incredible attention?

Surrounded by his pick of women, he rarely allowed one into his bed. Contra to popular belief, he didn't do casual and long term wasn't an option in his line of work. That left waiting on the pleasure of his phantom lover. It'd gotten so weird, her lovemaking more desperate and elemental as the year passed. At first it had been almost experimental. Now she knew a man's body well enough to bring it to almost instant attention with a single feathery stroke. One touch and he'd be lost to everything but the incredible sensations she created.

Eventually he'd been forced to let the doctors at Centre Neptune know. They'd taken him seriously. It'd never seemed that important until now.

'I can't live like this any longer,' he muttered. Moving to dress, he grabbed car keys and started for the underwater base.


	5. Maelstrom

'What's the weather like topside?' the duty doctor at Centre Neptune asked in the middle of the night.

'Stormy,' the young nurse answered putting a new batch of medications into the locked cupboard. Turning towards his friend, noticing the expectant gaze the nurse asked, 'why?'

'You still on duty tomorrow morning?' The doctor asked with a delighted smile. The nurse shook his head. 'Pity, you'll miss the parade. Take my advice. It'll be worth staying back to watch. Just make sure you not seen or heard.'

'It's happened again,' the same doctor asked the young man before him. Actually he'd been surprised to have one of them come to him so soon after the storm dissipated. The night hadn't yet given way to the sun. Over the top of the commander's head, he flicked a knowing gaze at the nurse.

'Every time there's a storm,' Mark replied, eyeing the third individual as he left the room.

'Strange,' the doctor shook his head. Leading the commander of G-force to a specially built contraption, he indicated Mark should sit. A few moments later a printout spewed from a slot on the side. Sighing deeply the doctor reported, 'nothing's wrong with your implant. We did a full medical two weeks ago, after the last storm to hit the mainland. I can't explain these "dreams" you're experiencing or why they seem so real. Let me know if it occurs again.'

'Sure,' Mark got up from the examination chair and couldn't get back to the ready room fast enough. He needed to be alone and contemplate this.

'So,' Anderson, who'd been watching from behind one way glass asked, 'any ideas.'

'Beats the hell out of me,' the doctor shrugged, 'it happens to all three of the adult male G-Force team every time we have a stormy night. I might suggest they're in desperate need of female companionship and the unique release only a woman of the species can give.'

'Ammmm,' Anderson closed his eyes, not wanting to go there. 'I'll call in Jason and Tiny.'

'Just Tiny,' the doctor held a secret smile. 'I get more out of Jason if his allowed thinks he seeks out my medical opinion of his own accord.'

Tiny's communicator went off just as he considered getting checked out by the base doctors once again. Shaking his head, he moved towards the door. One last look in the mirror assured he actually remained in one piece, not a pile of soot on the floor.

'What's up Chief?' he asked Anderson, entering his office.

'You've been to Medical three times in the last month,' the security chief let the statistic roll off his tongue easily. Raising an eyebrow, he demanded an explanation.

Nodding, Tiny couldn't tell Anderson the reason why. It'd been hard enough coming clean with the doctors. So he made up an excuse, 'the weather we've had seems to be playing with my implant.'

'I see,' hand going to his moustache, The Chief asked casually, 'do you know if the others are experiencing the same disturbances?'

'I…I haven't asked,' Tiny stammered.

'Report to medical,' Anderson ordered, 'there was a storm last night.'

He couldn't get out of the office fast enough. Almost at the medical centre, Tiny realised he'd never mentioned it only happened on stormy nights. A grin covered his face as he wondered which of his teammates experienced the same fiery passion. The consult didn't take long, his cerabonic hardware getting a clean bill of health. Tiny didn't see any of the others wondering the corridors. Leaving for the ready room, he needed to find out which of his teammates had been called to Centre Neptune after their nocturnal activities.


	6. Precipitation

'How long has this been happening?' the white coated man asked. As he suspected, the most resistant member of the team came to him of his own volition. Over the years, he'd learnt to leave this one alone. The doctor extracted more information that way.

'About a year,' Jason ground out between gritted teeth.

'When did it start,' the doctor allowed a cool indifference to colour his words, 'can you be specific?'

'It was a stormy night…' the voice trailed off, obviously remembering the details.

'Yes,' the doctor actively listened, requestion more information.

'I didn't know…didn't realise at first,' swallowing convulsively, this admission took a lot of courage for Jason to admit. His pride centred on his stealth and intuition, she'd been the only one to evade detection. 'Even with my enhanced senses, I couldn't see or hear anything.'

'So you only feel her?' he asked carefully.

'Yes,' surprise clouded his orbs as he considered this, 'but not just in my head. At first I thought it might be my implant malfunctioning. Sensory overload, but I can feel her hands, her mouth.'

'Has there ever been any physical evidence?' once again he cloaked the question in clinical fashion.

'Apart from the obvious?' the embarrassed young man couldn't look the doctor in the eye.

'I would expect sexual activity to leave more than just your DNA,' he suggested evenly.

Getting it now, Jason couldn't get more than a growl out. 'No,' he stated, 'only mine. She comes in like a phantom and leaves the same way. No bite marks or scratches, not even a dent in the pillow beside mine.'

The doctor answered with a raised eyebrow. 'When's the last time you had sexual relations with a real woman?'

'Before this happened,' the menacing whisper erupted.

'Over a year ago?' when the young man nodded, the doctor sighed, 'a person you age is not supposed to be celibate.'

'I…I don't have the time,' he stuttered.

'I know,' the doctor shook his head. 'You young men work hard. It's almost impossible to form relationships. I keep telling Anderson it's just not normal.'

Keen eyes took the sentence apart in a second. 'You young men?' Jason questioned. 'Is this happening to the others as well?'

'Yes,' he answered truthfully, 'only your Phantom lover seems to have a conscious. She visits those over the legal age limit.'

'Princess?' he couldn't help asking, intrigued by the thought. 'Is she getting the same treatment?'

Giving a hearty chuckle, the doctor answered, 'if she does, your female team member hasn't come to me about it.' Walking over to the examination couch, surrounded by electronic equipment, the doctor made a silent request.

'Well,' he remarked three minutes later, 'nothing wrong with your implant. I just don't get it.'

'Maybe Spectra's found a new way to make the male members of G-Force go crazy,' he muttered disgustedly under his breath.

'Ahmm,' the doctor obviously had an idea.

Fiddling with the machine, he looked at the dials. Reassured he'd set the frequency correctly, the doctor flicked a switch. Several seconds later, a sharp pain lanced through Jason's skull. Covering his ears with his hands, he didn't acknowledge rest of the team showing up at the medical centre door.

'What's happening,' Keyop asked, looking into the pained face of his teammates. He alone hadn't experienced the intense activation of his implant. Instead he'd followed Mark, Tiny and Princess as they shot out of the ready room.

'Headache,' Princess held her hands over her ears. 'My implant just went crazy.'

As soon as the words left her mouth, the pain stopped. Only Keyop saw the doctor push a button on the machine before him. Unable to comprehend the commotion surrounding him, he looked between his teammates.

Startled by the confession, three young men looked to each other in utter amazement. They'd felt the sudden and blinding jolt of energy within the cerabonics. The doctor tried and failed to keep a neutral expression on his face. Just as he'd expected, the fourth member of the team to reach legal age responded to his test.

In that instant Mark, Jason and Tiny made a momentous discovery. Not only did they all experience the same stormy night dreams, it didn't take long for them to realise the point of emanation. As one, the three members turned on their female counterpart with expressions of pleasure and horror on their faces.

'What,' Princess looked into three sets of stunned eyes, before the fog in her mind finally lifted and reality rained down on her.


End file.
